“Give it back to me, Jaehyun! That's mine!”

A short Sunyu struggled to reach the small cup that Jonghwan was holding high above his head, out of her reach. He held her down by the top of her head, keeping one leg behind the back of the vibrant orange chair she was leaning on so that it wouldn't slip from underneath her if she did attempt to reach for her drink. Rokhyun, Hyukjin, and Chanyong amusingly watched the two young adults fighting over her drink. See, Sunyu had already reached her breaking point the moment she started calling Jonghwan 'Jaehyun' and he figured that since it was her first time drinking, it was time to stop. But by the looks of it, Sunyu didn't agree with that. While laughing, Hyukjin ordered another round of Sea Sunrises and called out to Jonghwan, “Relax, Jonghwan. One more drink isn't going to kill her,”

“Oh you don't know that,” Jonghwan lightly pushed her on the shoulder so that she would just sit back down; which she did. Taking one for the team, Jonghwan downed the rest of the contents in her cup in one shot and cringed as he felt the strong alcohol go down. His friends cheered as he took his seat once more next to Sunyu who was currently slumped over the table, eyelids half-closed and mouth hanging slightly open. Wrinkling his nose at her, Jonghwan shook his head and turned back to his friends, “This is her first time drinking. If something happens to her, it's on us okay? I'd rather not get arrested because of some girl I don't even know,”

The others just shrugged their shoulders as they picked up their respective drinks from the tray the waiter brought up to them. When Sunyu started to reach over, Rokhyun held his arm out in order to stop her from taking it. As expected, she asked why, and he explained that it was probably best not to take drink any more alcoholic drinks for the evening. Her shoulders dropped a little after he said that, but she followed his words anyway. Next to her, Jonghwan merely sighed and shook his head as he swirled the drink in his hand. This was only his second drink for the night (the first one being the one he had taken from Sunyu), and he wasn't even planning on drinking it at this point. The foul taste of gin was still in his mouth, and he figured maybe now was not the time for another cocktail.

“I think someone should take her home. I'm afraid she might not get home if we just stick her in the back of a cab,” Chanyong suggested as he went ahead to take a quick sip of his orange-y red drink. The others around the table nodded their heads in agreement. Chanyong was right. They couldn't risk putting her in the care of a taxi driver. Who knows what that guy could do to a drunk girl? Clearing his throat, Chanyong continued, “Alright then, Jonghwan, make sure you get her home safely,”

Eyebrows raising, Jonghwan did a double take and stood up from his seat, “Who? Me? Why me?”

“Yes you, Jaehyun,” Rokhyun snickered, and the others followed like it was some sort of inside joke; Jonghwan's face pulled into a frown of annoyance. Seeing this, Hyukjin spoke up, “Besides, you're probably the most sober and responsible one here!”

Rolling his eyes, Jonghwan didn't bother trying to fight his friends. There was no way he was going to win this one, especially since Chanyong was on the opposing side. With Rokhyun's help he managed to lift Sunyu up to her feet, slinging her arm over his shoulder while his free arm held her steady. As she walked out with him, her head lay against his shoulder heavily as she mumbled something incoherent under her breath. Their steps were staggered and struggled because she could barely stand on her own. Others at the club stared at them as they sloppily made their way through the crowded hallways and finally out the club.

Damn, this girl was heavy for someone her size – Jonghwan was already out of breath and they hadn't even walked that far! He set her down at a nearby bench outside the club building, and leaned against a nearby lamppost to catch his breath. Next to him, Sunyu slurred and her head tipped backwards with a light thump against a wall. Looking down at the half-conscious girl, Jonghwan bit his lip curiously as he tried to get a better look at her face. The lighting inside the club could do things to your eyes, so why not, you know? Her face was small like a doll, and her complexion was almost clear (with the exception of a few little bumps on her cheeks). Sunyu weakly opened her eyes and stared up at Jonghwan with that glassy film highlighting her irises. It was totally obvious that she had been drinking; Jonghwan had seen that look before from his friends before.

Thankfully, there was a vending machine nearby so he decided to buy both of them a bottle of water. Honestly, he had been sweating up the storm from the humidity inside the club, and his clothes were sticking to him. Water was the only thing he wanted to drink at this point. He could have possibly chugged at least sixteen gallons in one go if he wanted to. Walking back to the bench, he took a seat next to her, opened the water bottle, and held it out to her. Her gaze switched from him and the bottle, not looking quite sure she knew what she was doing. Sighing, Jonghwan recapped the water bottle and tossed it onto her lap, “Drink this. It'll help stop the head pains,”

“Hey Joohan,” Sunyu giddily asked, rubbing her tired eyes with the back of her hand while the other ran a thumb along the ribbed container, “Can we play just one more round? Before you go?”

“Of what?”

“Flip, sip, or strip?”

Scoffing, Jonghwan leaned back in his seat and took a long, satisfying drink of his water, “You've got a lot of nerve asking me that, kid. Look at you. You're asking me to play, while you can barely hold yourself together,”

He had barely even finished his thought when Sunyu held up a coin to his face, almost as if she were ordering him to flip it. Dear Lord, this girl was really persistent. At least the only thing she could drink at this point was the water that he had given her so there really was no harm in playing just one round. Taking the quarter from her fingers, Jonghwan let out a loud sigh before asking if she was ready. When she gave the 'go', he tossed the quarter high into the air, caught it on his lap, and covered the result with his hand. Sunyu was squinting at his hand as if she could see right through it. Finally, when she had decided on the side, she said, “Okay, um...heads,”

“Tails. You know what to do,”

“I'm going to uh...” Sunyu brought her eyes down at the table in front of them with a light, happy expression. Her lids closed as she yawned, before she brought her hand up to her face to rub her eyes once again. She blinked a few times in a row, then her eyebrows furrowed. Something didn't seem right. Lifting her head, she looked up at Jonghwan with a confused look, “Wait, what are we doing again? I was going to drink right?”

“No, I think you've had enough for one night,”

“Fine then, I'll just take off my shirt,” Sunyu sighed, beginning to slip her arms through the long sleeves of the shirt she was wearing.

At the mention of taking off her clothes, Jonghwan's eyes widened in shock. Immediately, he looked off to the sidewalk to the left of him, not sure of what to do. He could feel his heart start picking up as impure thoughts started creeping into his mind. But those thoughts were dismissed as fast as they spawned. Beside him, Sunyu was fumbling with the buttons on the front of her shirt. Giving up, she decided to just slip her arm through the sleeve. Taking a deep breath, Jonghwan calmed himself down and decided to take his chances. Slowly, he brought his head back up, and breathed a sigh of relief. There was Sunyu, sitting with one of her arms halfway through the sleeve as she slumped over in her seat mumbling something incoherent. After letting go of his breath, he pulled her arm back through her button-down and helped her sit up straight.

“What did I do to deserve this?” Jonghwan muttered to himself as he slid down from the bench, kneeling down in front of her and grabbing her shoulders to keep her up. See, if only he had stayed at home, none of this would have happened. Her head lay against his shoulder while he mentally cursed himself for being talked into being the one to take her home. He knew that he shouldn't listen to the likes of his friends. They were always the end of trouble. Biting his bottom lip, he tried to ignore Sunyu, and attempted to think of a way to get her home. But there was a catch. He had no idea where she lived. Sure, he could have just easily pulled out her student ID from her bag, but he didn't want to get sued for invasion of property. Groaning, he looked up at the sky frustratingly. See, this is exactly why he hated going out. He never knew what he would encounter, and he despised having to think on the spot.

---

“Hey kid, stay here okay? Don't go anywhere,”

Sunyu was somewhat more awake at this point, but she still didn't seem to be in the right state of mind. All the things that came out of was that her head was hurting and something about how sad she was that 'they' were in London. Jonghwan decided to stop by a convenience store before he did anything else so that her head pains would go away. That was the least he could do after all. He was the one that agreed to let her drink anyway. He should have known better. He had left Sunyu standing outside against a streetlamp thinking that she wouldn't possibly go anywhere. She could barely talk, let alone walk. She couldn't go very far either even if she did. Inside the store, Jonghwan angrily punched the buttons on the coffee machine, watching the black liquid flow into the cream colored styrofoam cup, “Even if he's the last person on Earth, I'm not going to listen to him. Even if my chances of survival are at stake, I won't give in,”

Once Jonghwan walked out of the store, he walked to where he had left her and realized that she wasn't there. Immediately he panicked – where did she go? Turning in every direction, he tried looking for her – she wasn't in sight. Possibly the worst case scenarios played in his head as he walked up and down the sidewalk, scanning the streets to see where she was. A string of curses left his lips as he broke into a quick jog as he looked for he missing person, “If I were drunk out of my mind, where would I go?” he asked himself.

For another fifteen minutes, Jonghwan had already run a long way from where he originally started and found himself closer to the middle of the city. The various night pubs, clubs, and entertainment services blasted bass-powered music from every direction which made his head hurt. He could barely hear anything over the already noisy atmosphere of the cars and lights and people, and now obnoxious music was adding to it all. Stopping before a crosswalk, Jonghwan placed his hands on his hips and let out a deep breath. His chest heaved slightly from all the running he had done. Where could she have gone? There was no way she could have just disappeared like that! He shook away any thoughts of her possibly getting picked up by some random guy off the street. That was the last thing he needed. Turning his head, Jonghwan's eyes cast down on a the police station not too far from where he was. Maybe he should...go to the police?

“Help I'm being abducted by aliens!” Jonghwan's ears perked up when he heard a voice that sounded too familiar to be true.

“I'm going to tell on you if you don't let me go!” It was coming from the front of the police station.

A police car had just pulled up to the station, and two blue uniforms were currently dragging someone out of the back seat. Jonghwan made his way over to the car to see if it really was Sunyu who they had found. Lo and behold, there she was, her hat sliding halfway down her head, and the buttons of her shirt messily done. She was once again spouting nonsense. Tapping one of the officers on the shoulder, Jonghwan caught his attention and waved a nervous 'hello'. The officer looked at him wearily and asked what he wanted. It must have been a long evening for him, especially since it was the first evening of summer for most of the university students. Clearing his throat, Jonghwan pulled the officer aside and explained, “Hi officer, my name is Jo Jonghwan. I think you may have found my friend. I'm really sorry for bothering you. I should have watched her more closely,”

“It's alright, son. Things happen,” the officer weakly smiled, “Anyway, why don't you come inside so we can take care of your friend and write this up, okay? Then we'll have one of the rookies drive you guys back home,”

“Thank you so much!”

---

“Hey kid!” Jonghwan said loudly as the two of them reached the top of the stairs to her apartment, “Wake up, you're home!”

Sunyu merely groaned as he propped her up against the wall so he could have an easier time hitting the keypad. Thanks to the rookie officer that had driven them to the complex, they were finally able to get home. Or at least, Jonghwan was finally able to get her home. The officers had searched through her bag, and easily found her address all thanks to the papers she carried with her. As for Jonghwan, it was embarrassing for him to answer the questions that were thrown at him. Things like, how are you related to this person? Or how long have you known this person? Do you know anything about this person? What did this person drink? Ectetera, etcetera. All those questions made his head spin. But now they were finally here. His night was finally coming to an end.

“Alright, now all I need is her keypad number and we're all...” Jonghwan's face fell when he placed his hand right above the keypad, “...set. Damn it! I don't know her keypad number!”

Screw it all. Why did Korea have to be different from everyone else and not have keys like regular people from other countries? How the hell was he supposed to get her inside her house now? As he stood there thinking about what he was going to do next, he could hear a scratching noise coming from beside him. Peering over his shoulder, Jonghwan could see that Sunyu was slowly sliding down the wall and onto the floor where he slouched in her seat uncomfortably. Sighing, Jonghwan crouched down and helped her lay down on her side, propping her head up with his jacket so that she wouldn't choke on her vomit if she did decide to throw up. The last thing he needed right now was someone he had been trying to help for the past two hours to die on him. Oh no. Not today.

“I'll just have to check if her renter can give me her passcode,” Jonghwan sighed as he walked down the stairs, leaving her on the floor. It's not like anyone was there anyway, and she was pretty much asleep now so he didn't have to worry about her running off somewhere...he hoped. When he reached the bottom of the staircase, he realized that the place looked pretty familiar. Luckily for him, he spotted a map towards right. Walking up to the map, he found that the complex was set up just like his. In fact, it was the same apartment complex as his! How did he not notice the moment he got there?

“Wait, but Mister Gyu closes his office at this hour,” his shoulders drooped when he remembered the office hours.

There was only one more thing he could do at this point. And that one thing, he had been trying to avoid the entire time. It was probably the easiest option, but he really didn't intend on having to use it. With a heavy soul, Jonghwan hesitantly walked back up her building stairs and brought her back down with him. Checking the building number, he was just relieved that he didn't have to walk a long way to get to his building. She lived in building G-3 while he lived in D-4. Semi-dragging her through the parking lot, he stopped almost every minute to catch his breath. He had been on his feet for the past few hours, and dragging another person who couldn't carry their own weight was some hard work.

Jonghwan had just entered the E section when he heard a cab pulling up into one of the covered parking. At first, he didn't really think much of it, until he heard Rokhyun's unique, melodic voice come from the far side of the cab. Once again, Jonghwan began to panic. His friend knew that he was going to be taking her home, but not to his house. Imagine the uproar they would make if they found out where he was taking her! After doing some quick thinking, Jonghwan pulled her over to one of the bushes and hid her inbetween the two largest ones. He had just finished setting her down when Hyukjin called him out, hiccuping as he did, “Aye look guys, it's Joori!”

Yep. He was definitely drunk.

The trio didn't really mind much about him, and waved goodbye to him with stupid grins on their faces. Jonghwan waved back to them and watched them hobble up the stairs, clinging onto the rails for dear life. He noticed that Chanyong was missing a shirt (which Hyukjin turned out to be wearing) and Rokhyun was no longer wearing a hat. Man, they really had it in for tonight. When he was sure they were out of sight, Jonghwan returned his attention back to Sunyu who had somehow managed to crawl out from the bushes, but ended up giving out halfway so she was just lying face-down on the street road.

Huffing, Jonghwan bent down to pick her up, “After tonight, I better be going to Heaven when I die,”